LANGFORD, John (b.c.1560), of Langford, Devon.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b. c.1560, 1st s. of Edmund Langford of Langford by Grace, da. of John Fitz. educ. M. Temple 1578-83.

Offices Held

Biography

Little is known about Langford, who was presumably one of the circle of friends and relations of Lord Mountjoy, with whom the Langfords intermarried in the fifteenth century. The Blount family controlled the parliamentary patronage at Bere Alston, and no doubt had Langford returned there in 1601. At the Middle Temple—where Charles Blount was a contemporary—Langford shared a chamber with a ‘Mr. Burgoyne’ of Devon, probably a relative of Thomas Burgoyne, Member for Bere Alston in 1593. In 1592 the name George Burgoyne follows a John Langford of Ludgate, gentleman, in a list of imprisoned recusants. Another Langford was alleged to have confessed to harbouring Edmund Campion, the Jesuit. Probably neither of these was the 1601 MP, who had a number of puritans (including Francis Drake and William Carnsew I) among his associates. A John Langford of Freshford, Somerset made a nuncupative will in his last sickness in 1612, the will being proved 11 Sept. Another John Langford made his will in 1613, naming his wife Margaret executrix. This will was proved 4 July. Yet a third namesake was alive in 1617.

Vivian, Vis. Cornw. 278; Genealogist n.s. ii. 223; Somerville, Duchy, i. 557, 630; M.T. Recs. i. 220, 228, 229, 261; PCC 1 Drake, 69 Fenner, 67 Capell; CPR, 1560-3, p. 367; CSP Dom. 1611-18, p. 496; Roberts thesis.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: P. W. Hasler

Notes